Ockeghem: Missa L'homme Arme, Missa Sine Nomine a3

It is said that Ockeghem had a fine bass voice, and one of his many innovations as a composer was to extend the range of the lower voices downwards. His fondness for the low register is apparent in the first mass on this recording, L’homme armé, where for much of the time the bass has the cantus firmus (the fixed melody on which the rest of the piece is built). The Clerks’ Group basses serve the music well, seizing your attention with their wonderfully resonant, sonorous sound, but unfortunately they’re not quite matched by the upper voices, which sometimes sound slightly strident and off-key. No such flaws mar the Missa sine nomine, where the sweetness and clarity of the singing effectively brings out the beauty of the piece’s sinuous lines.